Pakistan focused on stamping out terror: Lodhi

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan is making focused efforts to stamp out violent extremism and terrorism, Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi told the U.N.

Speaking at the 193-member General Assembly’s debate on the proposed UN Secretary General’s Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism, the Pakistani envoy regretted that the rising tide of xenophobia in the west in particular Islamophobia had so far gone unchecked.

Lodhi deplored any attempt to associate violent extremism and terrorism with any country, race religion, culture or nationality, and urged the international community to ensure that it reflected in their national and international actions.

Tabled in December 2015, the proposed action plan recommended that each member state develop its own national action plan to prevent violent extremism with a focus on seven priority areas; dialogue and conflict prevention, strengthening good governance, human rights and the rule of law, engaging communities, empowering youth, gender equality and empowering women, education skill development and employment facilitation, and strategic communications including through the Internet and social media. The proposed action plan received mixed reviews during the debate. While some delegates agreed on the need to prevent violent extremism, others felt the proposal lacked a deeper and broader look into the root causes of radicalization.

Opening the debate, General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft said violent extremism was on the rise across the world and the pain, fear and destruction it caused presented real and difficult challenges to all member states. In that regard confronting and preventing the phenomenon was fundamental to protecting all societies and people, he emphasized.

In her speech, the Pakistani envoy said violent extremism was result of interplay between local and external factors and that both dimensions have to be addressed by an effective preventive strategy. Economic deprivation, political injustice, social exclusion and marginalization of people need to be addressed not only in the local context but also in the wider international context.

Ambassador Lodhi argued that injustices done to people under foreign occupation denial of the right to self-determination long festering and unresolved disputes and interference in the internal affairs of states create conditions that are exploited by violent extremists and terrorists to propagate their twisted ideologies. The international community, in particular the United Nations, already has a responsibility to address these issues. Doing so diligently will also address the drivers of violent extremism and the conditions conducive to terrorism.

Pakistan, she said, is gratified to note that the international community is finally acknowledging the need to go beyond security and military centered counterterrorist measures and adopt a more comprehensive approach. Pakistan has long advocated this, so that the underlying factors that drive terrorist violence are addressed in their entirety, she added.

Lodhi expressed dismay at the relatively little attention given by the Secretary General’s Action Plan to obvious international factors that have so decisively influenced emergence of violent extremism. Stressing the need to ensure respect for international law and human rights in counterterrorism measures, the Pakistani envoy assailed foreign military interventions that she said have rendered countries and regions susceptible to the chaos in which violent extremism thrives.

She also criticized so-called surgical counterterrorism strikes in violation of the territorial integrity of states which have resulted in thousands of civilian casualties and left entire communities angry and determined to avenge such impunity. With regard to the Secretary General’s call for National Action Plans to prevent violent extremism, Lodhi said Pakistan raised concern over this threat at national, regional and international levels.

She said eight of 20 Action Points of Pakistan’s National Action Plan to counter terrorist, violence pertain to preventing violent extremism. We are cognizant of our national challenges and are making focused efforts to deal with this scourge. Reiterating Pak principled position against terrorism in all its manifestations, Lodhi assured the country’s support to all efforts aimed at preventing violent extremism and terrorism in a balanced manner consistent with the purposes and principles of the United Nations.